Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
An ending or stopping point calculated to leave a story unresolved, in order to create suspense.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, narratology, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: anticlimax
noun
An outcome which is awaited with keen anticipation, especially one which is delayed for a period of time or which is not known until the last minute.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
an episode that ends in suspense
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: episode, installment, instalment
noun
a contest whose outcome is uncertain up to the very end
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: contest, competition
History
From cliff + hanger, evoking the image of someone left hanging from a cliff, thereby having an uncertain fate. The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with the serialized version of Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes, published in Tinsley's Magazine in the 1870s, in which the character Henry Knight is left hanging off of a cliff. It was inspired by a real life story from his wife Emma's childhood, when she had to rescue one of her school friends from a similar position.
Across languages
26 source translations are retained for this English entry.
